Brazilian president in hospital following 10 days of ceaseless hiccups

Hospitalized due to never-stop hiccups over the last 10 days, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, 66, may need emergency surgery, according to the New York Times on Wednesday.

President Bolsonaro suffered a severe stomachache around 4 a.m. on Wednesday, being sent to a military hospital in Brasilia and receiving a compressive range of tests. The Brazilian presidential office announced that he was transferred to a hospital in São Paulo to take extra tests, adding that he may undergo emergency surgery according to test results.

Medical experts assume that his symptoms are related to intestinal obstruction where some parts of the bowels are blocked not to allow food, gas, etc. to move through the body. Since the president got stabbed by an unidentified assailant to get the intestines damaged during his presidential campaign in 2018, he has performed surgery multiple times. If he receives surgery this time, it will become the 7th since the assault, according to AFP. “Severe hiccups are one of the most common symptoms of intestinal obstruction, which may require a partial removal of the vowels, Dr. Anthony Limbo told the Associated Press.

President Bolsonaro on Wednesday shared a photo of lying in hospital bed with various testing equipment attached to his unclothed upper body on Instagram. He wrote that another challenge arose out of the attack suffered during the presidential campaign, promising to come back soon. In a radio show last Wednesday, he apologized for annoying listeners due to his hiccups, which he had continued all day long for the last five days. He guessed that the symptoms are attributable to prescribed drugs for his dental implant surgery.


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